Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program.
Description of the Related Art
In the related arts, in the case of scanning a document and storing as electronic data, there are a line scanner using a line sensor for image pickup and a camera scanner using a two-dimensional imaging sensor. Particularly, in the case of the camera scanner in which a camera is disposed over an original putting stage (hereinbelow, simply referred to as “stage”) and an original is put onto the stage in a face-up state and is photographed, when one sheet of original is photographed, it can be rapidly scanned merely by putting the original, and even the thick original like a book can be easily put onto the stage and scanned. Further, such a camera scanner that not only a document such as paper or book but also a solid object is put onto a stage and a solid shape is scanned has been disclosed in the Official Gazette of Japanese Patent No. 4012710.
In the camera scanner disclosed in the Official Gazette of Japanese Patent No. 4012710, a light projecting unit is provided together with a camera for imaging, a measurement pattern which is projected from the light projecting unit is photographed, and the solid shape is measured based on a principle of triangular surveying. According to the camera scanner, the solid shape of the object put on the stage is calculated, whether the object is a flat original, a book, or a solid object is discriminated, and the photographing is performed in a proper photographing mode in accordance with the object type.
According to a camera scanner disclosed in the Official Gazette of Japanese Patent No. 3954436, it has a construction similar to that mentioned above, a measurement pattern is always projected by a light projecting unit from timing when no object is put on a stage, and a solid shape is continuously measured, thereby detecting that an object has been put on the stage.
A technique regarding a user interface using a projector, a camera, and a distance sensor has been disclosed. According to such a technique, by projecting the user interface from the projector, a display can be superimposed onto an actual object such as paper or the like. Therefore, the user can handle the actual object as an interface with electronic data.
The Official Gazette of Japanese Patent No. 3834766 discloses a technique regarding such a user interface that a computer display screen is projected onto a desk from a projector and the computer display screen is operated by a fingertip. An infrared camera is used to detect the fingertip. According to such a technique, by reading a bar code printed on a paper document, a book, or the like on the desk, a link with electronic information can be formed.
The Official Gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-34168 discloses a technique regarding a user interface having a construction using a camera which can obtain a color image and a distance image and a projector. According to such a technique, a shape of a projecting plane of the projector is measured based on the distance image and an image to be projected is deformed, thereby performing a projection according to a change in relative position between a projection target and the projector. According to such a technique, by using the color image and the distance image, a gesture operation such as a touch operation which is executed by a fingertip onto a plane of the object surface or the like is enabled. According to such a technique, the user points a desired position on a paper document serving as a plane by the fingertip, contents of the position pointed by the user is specified, and an electronic process according to the gesture is executed. For example, according to such a technique, when the user traces a character train on the paper document by a finger, the traced character train is selected, and the selected character train is projected by the projector.
The Official Gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-208705 discloses such a technique that to a virtual object which can be stereoscopically viewed on a space, whether or not a fingertip of the user has been come into contact with such an object on the space is discriminated, and if the fingertip has been come into contact with the object, a display of the virtual object is changed.
However, in the camera scanners disclosed in the Official Gazettes of Japanese Patent Nos. 4012710 and 3954436, since a user interface unit is limited, it is difficult to improve the operability to the user.
In a user interface system disclosed in the Official Gazette of Japanese Patent No. 3834766, although an intuitive operation by the fingertip can be performed, a target of an object which is put onto the desk is limited only to a document such as paper document or book. Therefore, according to such a technique, it is difficult to execute an operation to an object such as a solid object other than a document put on the desk, and it is also difficult to make such dynamic control that the operability is changed in accordance with a feature of a target such as paper document or book.
In a user interface system disclosed in the Official Gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-34168, although a projection or a touch operation to paper or the like in which a relative positional relation with the projector changes is enabled, the touch detection is performed to the plane and it is difficult to detect a touch to a curved shape of a book or a touch to an object having a complicated shape. According to such a technique, the user points the contents of the paper document serving as a plane by the finger and a process according to the gesture can be executed to the contents. However, in this case, since the target is a plane, it is also difficult that an object having a solid shape such as a book object is handled as an interface with electronic data.
In a system disclosed in the Official Gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-208705, a touch operation by the finger of the user to a virtual solid object is enabled. However, according to a touch operation to an actual object, unlike a touch operation to a virtual object, a target to be touched is moved or distorted by the touch. In the system in the related arts, it is impossible to detect a touch to an object also in consideration of physical changes which occur actually.
It is, therefore, an aspect of the invention to improve the operability of the user in an image processing apparatus such as a camera scanner or the like.